The World's Largest Wooden Church

On Sunday night as we were leaving Lammenniemi we decided to drive to Kerimäki nearby to see the world's largest wooden church before the sun set.

 Kerimäen kirkko (Kerimäki church) is a Lutheran Church built in 1847, and renovated in 1911. It is made completely of wood with the exception of the windows, etc.

 Just looking at the church from the outside is wonderous thinking of how large it is. During the summertime it is open for people to go inside and see, but closed during the wintertime because of fire risks.

 There is a bell tower here, just in front of the church. Because the church is wooden all precautions against fires are taken and so the fire station is basically on speed dial and the church remains un-used when the risk is too high.

 It was a beautiful night when we were there. The moon was split right in half and the sky was in a swirl of soft blues. Chilly night, but a good one too.

 From this picture you can see the main church and then another attached building in the back that has lights on in it. While the main church is closed during the wintertime with the exception of Christmas, this smaller back church functions as the center for services.
It just so happens that we got there just as the the 6pm service was beginning. I don't know what my host grandma said, but she convinced one of the helpers to let us get a look inside the real wood church.

 The church is massive, it's no surprise it is the world's largest wooden church. There is one main floor and then a second floor which runs along the sides. There are actually four wood stoves to somewhat give heat during the wintertime when the space is used for Christmas, but they have to be extremely careful, and things don't heat up too much inside a large space when it is negative 30 degrees outside.

 This isn't a very good picture, but it somewhat shows just how big a space the church was. The thing I was most amazed by was the columns. They are so tall and painted to look like marble, but they are made from wood. So much wood and so much skill for all of the carving. It was truly spectacular to see and I am very happy to now be able to say I've seen the world's largest wooden church.

By the time we came back outside from the church, it was very dark, even though it was just after 6pm. In Finnish the word "puu" means wood.
Visiting Kerimäen kirkko made for a very nice evening.